Posts tagged ‘bank accounts’

Gone are the days when banks – and bank accounts – generally extended the same set of features. Instead, any given bank today usually offers a wide range of bank accounts for customers to choose from, with selections varying significantly from one bank to the next. Thus, consumers are able to select a bank account that caters to all their financial needs.

However, the sheer number of banks and types of bank accounts out there can also make the process of choosing an account seem overwhelming. So it’s best to break the process down into easier steps. To begin, you’ll need to choose a bank. Many people have either done business with banks before or currently have some type of account open with a local bank. If you already know which bank you want to open your account with, a large part of the work is already done. However, if you need to choose a bank, it’s best to do a bit of research first.

Start off by choosing a handful of banks in your area that you might want to bank with – then proceed to researching each of them further. You’ll initially want to consider aspects like locality and the number of branches in your area, extent of banking services, and customer service ratings – information that can all be gathered via online research or word-of-mouth. If you ultimately find you’re interested in multiple banks after your initial research, you can then start looking into each bank’s services and account types in more detail to choose the bank that’s right for you.

Continue reading ‘Finding a Bank Account that Caters to your Financial Needs’ »

Savings Accounts are offered by commercial banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, building societies and mutual savings banks. Earlier when you opened a savings account you were provided with a pass book and cheque book as accessories that enabled you to access your account. With the gradual make over of Retail Banking, ATM cum debit card, credit cards and other accessories creped in allowing you to do the same without paying the bank or branch a visit. All savings accounts offer itemized lists of all financial transactions, traditionally through a passbook, but also through a bank statement. The other account that one can access is a current account. Current accounts allow you a no-transaction limit, which isn’t the case with a savings account. With a savings account, the account holders are allowed to make three transactions with a withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000/ maximum (approx figures). Current accounts are mostly used by businessmen, mostly due to the high amount of transactions that they need to make.

Withdrawals from a savings account are occasionally costly and are sometimes much higher and more time-consuming than the same financial transaction being performed on a current account. Ideally interest is paid on a savings account on nature of minimum balance held on a quarterly basis. Hence if frequency of withdrawals is more the amount keeps decreasing and so does the interest. The term deposit is used by the banking industry in financial statements to describe the liability owed by the bank to its depositor, and not the funds (whether cash or checks) themselves, which are shown an asset of the bank. Nature of deposits varies depending on the tenure. The most commonly opted for deposit scheme is the fixed deposit scheme where an individual is required to keep an amount locked in for a period of a year or more. Term deposits are where the deposit is kept on a monthly/ daywise basis (100-180) days. NRI Term deposit accounts are the mostly sought after scheme as it helps improve financial regulations due to differences (mostly high) in currency rates.

Continue reading ‘Accounts & Deposits’ »

Not long ago there were lesser number of banks in the country and the banking services were also restricted to certain areas only. Usually, it used to take a huge amount of time to make a single financial dealing. However, the situation has changed in a better way after the stepping in of private and foreign banks in the country.

Nowadays, banking companies are chasing a customer-oriented approach, so as to fulfill the needs of their consumers and to maintain that have also rolled-out several new products and services.

Continue reading ‘Saving account: A safe place to let the money flourish’ »

A significant number of people are looking to save more money over the course of 2010, it has been revealed.

Britons are taking an increasingly positive approach towards saving, new research has shown – and such a trend appears to be particularly the case among men.

Such is the assertion of NS&I which points towards findings indicating that just over a quarter (27 per cent) of people claim they are likely to place more money in saving accounts over the course of 2010 then they were able to do in 2009.

Continue reading ‘Saving confidence 'on the up'’ »

The Spanish banking giant Santander has begun its re-branding scheme that will see all 1,045 branches of the former Abbey and Bradford & Bingley banks bear the parent name Santander.

Abbey was bought by the bank in 2004, which went on to buy both the Bradford & Bingley and the Alliance & Leicester in 2008.

Continue reading ‘Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches’ »